Russia can play leading role in global energy policy

The administration of George Bush believes that Russia, which possesses enormous natural resources, including oil and gas reserves, can play a leading role in the global energy policy in the course of the coming decades, US secretary of commerce Donald Evans told journalists in Washington. He believes there are good possibilities for cooperation between Russia and the USA in the energy sphere.

According to Evans, the Russian-US energy forum will take place at the end of the year in Houston, in which from the US side not only representatives of the government will take part but also the leading US companies which possess capitals, technologies and the examination results for developing cooperation with Russia in the energy sphere.

At the summit the Russian and the US representatives will be able to consider prospects for the joint projects in such spheres as the development of oil deposits and their servicing, the oil utilisation and processing, and petroleum products delivery.

The head of the economic development ministry, Herman Gref, who also met with journalists in Washington, reported that the Russian government considers cooperation with the USA in the energy sphere as one of the priority directions in bilateral relations.

Under the conditions, when the USA is searching for the new ways of satisfying its requirements in energy products, the Russian oil and gas reserves, the stability of the internal situation in the country and Russia's preparedness for international interaction in this sphere are the basis for cooperation of the two countries in the markets of third countries, Gref stressed.